Reuinions and Redemptions
by Edhel En'Arvandor
Summary: Buffy returns to the US. Giles and Andrew are living in New York, and Xander and Willow come to visit. But before long, they are off to LA when Willow hears that Angel may be evil. Buffy begins to have flashes of memory of Angel as a human and wonders how


Chapter One

Days had gone by, weeks, months, since the Sunnydale, California, the Hellmouth, _el Boca del infierno_, had collapsed in upon itself, and things had happened that would forever alter the course of the lives of the Slayers, the Chosen and the Created, the Witch, the Carpenter, the Watcher, the Key, the Demon Summoner, and the Two, the vampires with souls, the Champions, who sought the love of the Slayer who twice perished.

Willow turned off the television as her movie ended. She rolled off the futon she called a bed and glanced out the window. She never tired of seeing the Himalayan landscape: bluish-gray mountains and evergreen trees capped with snow, creeks running through the crevices, freezing and unfreezing with the coming and going sun, and the animals, great bears and small chipmunks and squirrels. She saw it all, _felt_ it all, drinking it all in. She took a deep breath of the cool mountain breeze. Dae Zhong, her teacher had gone on a trek through the mountains, as she does every year. Willow had wanted to go, but as Dae described it, "it's an alone thing."

Willow was now a full-fledged White Witch. As the most powerful Wicca in the world, she had learned to control her power, but was not sure if she wanted to go home yet, or, indeed, where home was.

Willow headed to the kitchen to make a snack when she heard a monophonic version of the Scooby Doo theme. She turned and glanced at her cell phone on her bed, grinning. She checked the caller ID as she flopped back onto her "bed". Her smile widened as she answered the phone, half giggling. "Hello, Xander."

"_Konichiwa!_" the voice on the other end said.

Willow sighed. "Xander, I'm in Mongolia."

"So?"

"_Konichiwa_'s Japanese."

"It's a person?" Xander said, quite confused.

Willow closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. "Yes, Xander. Konichiwa is my dear Japanese friend that I met here in Mongolia."

"Oh?" Xander said, still lost.

"What's up?" Willow said, changing the topic.

"Um…" Xander hesitated. "Someone, uh… someone here…"

"Here?" Willow said. "In Africa?"

"Well… not so much Africa as… Staten Island. New York."

"New York?" Willow yelped. "You went back to the states and you didn't tell me?"

"I was waiting until we were settled in. We are, and we decided to call."

"'We'?" Willow said. "Who's the 'we'?"

"Can I talk?" Xander said sarcastically. "Look, someone here wants to talk to you."

A mumbling occurred on the other end and another voice came on, a female voice- one Willow hadn't heard in over a year. "H-hey, Wil."

Willow stiffened and replied. "Hello, Buffy."

"How have you been?" Buffy said tentatively.

"Been better," Willow snarled.

"Look, Wil, I understand you being angry, and you should be?"

"Why?" Willow said shrilly. "Why _should_ I be angry? Just because two days after we help you take down the biggest baddest bad we find yours and Dawn's blankets, cell phones, and a note that says 'Don't call'? B-because you didn't call for a year to let us know where you were or-or even if you were alive? We…We didn't know, Buffy. You could have been in-in Hell, or worse, New Jersey!"

"You knew," Buffy whispered.

"Yeah, I did," Willow said. "But Giles was- we were all- but Giles especially… We were hurt, Buffy."

"I needed some time off. From the Slayage, from the whole scene."

"From us," Willow said sadly.

"Yeah," Buffy whispered. "Uh- no, I-" She sighed. "I don't know… Willow, please, I'm calling to try to make peace."

"I'm peaceful."

"You're full of crap."

"Don't screw with me, Summers," Willow said, unable to help smiling. "I'll smite you where you stand."

"Oh, no!" Buffy groaned.

"What?"

"You're going to be giving me a massive hard time aren't you?"

Willow pursed her lips. "You'll be praying I go as easy on you as last time."

There was a pause. "So…" Buffy said.

"So what?"

"Should we make room for two more? Big Gilesey house," she chirped.

"One," Willow said.

"One? But what about-"

"Kennedy and I broke up," Willow said. "I didn't … I couldn't love her. And… she jumped off a bridge."

"She's-?"

"Brain-dead. Or, almost."

"Wil, I'm so-"

"Don't be. I'll get the next flight out, okay?"

Buffy smiled. "See you soon…"


End file.
